


Tony Stark's Avengers

by TheSovereigntyofReality



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don't Like Don't Read, F/M, Moderated, Not Steve Friendly, Real World Logic, Shady implications, Team Tony, seriously, think people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 18:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15149216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality
Summary: Fury is pissed off to find that everyone thinks Tony Stark is the leader of the Avengers after the Battle of New York.He tries to set things straight.It doesn't work.





	Tony Stark's Avengers

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.**

‘What the hell is this?!’ Fury demanded, storming into the penthouse.

Tony Stark lifted his head from the Chinese he was eating. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, and Bruce turned their heads too. None of them seemed particularly alarmed. Likely, Stark’s AI had told them he was coming before he arrived. Then again, he hardly wanted to startle Banner and end up with an angry Hulk on his hands again.

‘Problem, Nicky?’ Tony asked.

Fury slapped the newspaper down. The headline was written in bold.

**TONY STARK’S AVENGERS SAVE NEW YORK**

‘Why the hell does the press think you’re the leader of the Avengers?’

The whole group suddenly looked highly amused.

‘Are you really asking that?’ Rhodey asked.

‘What?’ Fury demanded.

‘You don’t know how public opinion works, do you?’ Hogan asked, smirking. ‘They make judgements based on what they see and know.’ He gestured to the paper. ‘If you’re going to keep up with the Men in Black impersonation, that’s what they’re going to continue thinking.’

‘To put it in a more palatable way,’ Pepper said. ‘They saw the Avengers fighting, yes, but they didn’t hear who was giving the orders. There is a video of Tony and the Hulk coordinating the first attack while the other four Avengers stand back and watch. They know that Tony Stark flew a missile into the portal right before it closed, and there is even videophone evidence of Tony taking a team of exhausted superheroes to get food after the fight. Then, Tony was the only one who stood up and explained what had happened. He took care of all the formalities and all the red tape that comes when the public is involved. He helped clean up afterwards. He paid compensation and helped rebuild what was destroyed.’

Tony shrugged. ‘I did tell you that it needed to be done. You can’t just wreck an entire portion of a city and then just leave it like that.’ The genius looked him right in the eye.  
‘You a good spy, Nick, but you have a lot to learn about the PR game.’

Fury yelled a bit more but, seeing he wasn’t getting anywhere, he had to leave.

He tried to ignore Tony’s statement. ‘Once people make up their minds like this, it’s a waste of time and effort trying to change it.’

***

A few days later, a press conference was held.

Maria Hill hated having to do this but Fury wanted this whole issue straightened out. She was posing as a PR representative of the Avengers and she stood there, explaining to the gathered press that Tony Stark was _not_ the leader of the Avengers – Steve Rogers was. Rogers had decided to come along, to tell the people the truth. When she was done, Maria reluctantly opened the floor for questions.

They’d studied Stark’s press conferences so they knew what to do here.

Why he opened himself for questioning they had no idea, but this had to look genuine.

One of the first reporters to be picked out was a blonde woman. ‘Christine Everhart, WHiH World News. Captain Rogers, is it true that, prior to waking up just last week, your last memory was fighting in World War Two.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Rogers said. ‘Specifically, I was saving the world from the Red Skull.’

Maria suddenly didn’t like the glint in the woman’s eye.

‘And what sort of re-integration programs are you partaking in?’ Miss Everhart asked.

Shit!

Rogers looked confused. ‘Re-integration programs?’

An almost restless energy seemed to overtake the crowd of reporters. The glint in Miss Everhart’s eye seemed to sharpen. ‘The world has changed drastically in the past 70 plus years. Our social customs, our economy, our international alliances, our laws. When you put on that Captain America suit, I hardly need tell you that you represent America. Can you understand all of the delicate intricacies of that role in just a week?’

‘I’m a hero, not a politician,’ Rogers said disapprovingly.

Quickly, Maria selected another reporter.

‘Captain Rogers,’ this reporter said. ‘Have you at least had counselling for the culture shock of being knocked unconscious, for lack of a better phrase, in 1944 and waking up in 2012?’

Once again, Rogers was confused. ‘Counselling?’

‘So, you haven’t?’ the reporter asked. ‘Are we supposed to believe, then, that you are mentally and emotionally fit to lead a team like the Avengers?’

***

Back at Stark Tower, Tony was sitting with his friends on the couch. He looked like he was nursing a headache. His nose was pinched between his thumb and forefinger. Pepper rubbed his back soothingly. Rhodey and Happy were both desperately trying not to laugh as the questions got worse and worse and Rogers was seen to lose it more and more.

Soon, he’d be flipping a table – then things would _really_ go downhill.

‘Haw,’ Bruce said. ‘You’d think they’d know to stop shooting themselves in the foot.’

Pepper smiled at him over Tony’s back. ‘A lot of novices in PR don’t realise what the press is really like. If you think of them as hungry sharks, you’ll fare a lot better when you do have to talk to them.’ She looked at Tony. ‘So I guess the Avengers are toasted then?’

‘Rogers is, at the very least.’ Tony paused. ‘No, now the public will want profiles on all the members of the Avengers. They’ll want to be sure that nobody else is compromised. Rogers has all but confirmed himself to have undiagnosed PTSD,’ he gestured to the screen where Steve was on his feet, glowering at a reporter as he said something, ‘and that he knows nothing about the modern political climate.’

A voice recording of Steve’s statement early in the press conference was played. Tony closed his eyes in exasperation. He also had no idea that anything he said in a press conference could be used. The clip flashed back to Christine Everhart’s face. ‘Despite Captain Rogers’ statement, it is confirmed by US military historians that the plane he crashed was only heading for the harbour of New York City. Most likely, it was intended as a scare tactic as part of a means to force the US to surrender during World War Two. Though we have no way of knowing how powerful the weapons were, we can affirm that on that day Steve Rogers only saved at least a portion of New York, rather than the entire world as he claims.’

Tony dropped his head back. ‘Great! He’s also convinced them that he’s got delusions of grandeur too.’

‘You think Fury will keep him on despite this?’ Rhodey asked.

‘I think so,’ Bruce said. ‘Fury wanted us six specifically. I don’t know if he scoped out anybody else, but we were the ones he wanted and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.’

Tony nodded. ‘I wonder where they got the name “Avengers”.’

‘If I may, sir?’ JARVIS spoke up.

‘Go on,’ Tony said.

‘It appears, from my searches of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s databanks, that the Avengers Initiative is not a new project. It actually dates back to the 1960s and generally runs when S.H.I.E.L.D. finds enough enhanced to form a team.’

‘So the name came from dad’s era?’ Tony shook his head. ‘Doesn’t seem like dad’s style, though. Hell, he scoffed at the name of the Millennium Falcon – especially when he heard the “fastest ship in the galaxy” reference.’

‘Indeed, sir,’ JARVIS said dryly. ‘Is seems that your tendency towards creating anagramic names for everything is inherited.’

Tony dropped his head. ‘Dad named S.H.I.E.L.D.?’

‘It would seem so, sir, but it seems he had little to nothing to do with the Avengers Initiative when it was enacted. As Dr. Banner says, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s commanders decided who they wanted and then refused to take “no” for an answer. One enhanced, records indicate, actually got away from S.H.I.E.L.D. because he wanted to raise his children away from the madness that was S.H.I.E.L.D. and turned to your father for help.’

‘And dad helped him?’

‘He did. To this day, Fury has no idea where that enhanced, or his family, is,’ JARVIS said. ‘The event, however, marked the end of the previous era of the Avengers, because this was when your father learned that these people were occasionally forced into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ranks.’

Tony raised his eyebrows. ‘How many people did dad hide?’

‘Quite a few.’

Which meant there were bound to be a whole bunch of enhanced hanging around, under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar.

Hiding them was one thing but...

Apparently, Rhodey was on the same page. ‘You know what’s really interesting here. They actually forced people to come along with them – but what can they realistically do to you if their existence were to...suddenly become known?’

‘Hm.’ Tony rubbed his jaw. ‘And we do need a team, but...’

‘I said it before.’ Bruce picked it up from that. ‘That bunch was a time bomb. They’re just chaos waiting to happen.’

‘Shall I begin going through you father’s old files, sir?’ JARVIS asked, knowingly. ‘Faint as it would have been, he must have left some kind of trail.’

‘Yeah,’ Tony said.

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea from a comment by LakeBreeze on the Chapter 1 comment section of Disassembled by Westpass.
> 
> It just came into my head and I just wrote it before I lost it.
> 
> I _think_ Rogers crashed in '44, but it could have been '43. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


End file.
